@TheWingedAvenger Falcom is a very small company and does not have a comparable amount of resources as Nintendo, Square Enix, or Bethesda. That steep competition is precisely why an open world Trails game wouldn't sell well. The series is still obscure, Falcom doesn't have the funding for aggressive marketing or hyper realistic graphics, and so many other developers are releasing open world games in this day and age. However, I would argue that Falcom handles world building and characterization better than those companies. They do not have the time or money to create an open world or 'stunning' graphics, and would rather focus on other aspects of their games anyway (music, story, characters, world building, continuity across 9 games set on the same continent, etc). I may also point out that your judgement of the writing is based only by your experiences with some of the earlier games in the series. Tear of Vermilion suffered from an incredibly rushed translation job by Bandai Namco, so your complaint that "it seems like it was written by a college student on marijuana" is undoubtedly a result of the awful translation on their part. Tear of Vermilion is also largely unrepresentative of the series as of today, because it is not part of the Trails sub-series. As for Trails in the Sky FC, it has comparatively weak writing to the rest of the Trails series, I'll give you that. But the other EIGHT games in Trails which you have NOT PLAYED, are vastly improved in this aspect and many others. You're not exactly an authority on the writing quality of the Trails series when you're only taking into account the oldest game (released in 2004). Another main draw of the series is the continuity between each game, which is something you also can't comment on having only played one Trails game. Cold Steel IV is like the Avengers Endgame of JRPGs, with over 30 playable characters and insane plotlines built up over a decade of games finally coming to their conclusion. Falcom is not lazy. Every game developer isn't a Triple A juggernaut capable of just sneezing a massive world onto a game and lining their pockets with profit. Falcom is a very small company, and they had to choose what they wanted to prioritize in their games. They wanted to create a series of interconnected games with deep lore, world building, and memorable characters. Wasting time on a large (but barren) open world would only lead to an unfocused plot, meaningless space, and limited resources to do anything else in the game. And with so many other developers (with nearly endless pockets) making open world games, creating something refreshing and unique that only a small company like Falcom could do was the option they went with. You say that you agree every game doesn't need an open world, yet you say the absence of one in the Legend of Heroes series means the developers were lazy. You also act like there is no exploration at all. It's true that a lot of the world is comprised of narrow pathways, but towns are large and fully explore-able, caves and dungeons exist, etc. The game that you played (Trails in the Sky FC) is very linear in terms of progression, but again, you lack experience with the rest of the series. Quite a few of the future games give you more freedom as to where to travel and explore. Some even give you access to nearly the entire world halfway through. As for the writing, of course it's no classic literature, but it's a hell of a lot better than anything found in other video games. So again, as someone who only played an irrelevant, poorly translated Legend of Heroes game and the first/oldest Trails game, you really have no place in a comment section for the newest game in the series releasing over 15 years after the most recent game you played and 8 main series games later. It all comes down to personal taste. I don't take any issue with you personally not having an interest in The Legend of Heroes. However I do take issue with you ignorantly bashing an entire series based only on your experience with a dated game released over a decade and a half ago. What's next? Are you going to crucify Super Mario Bros because it didn't have the sandbox style of Odyssey? Start Zelda with The Adventure of Link and judge Breath of the Wild just by your experience with Zelda 2? You have no business here and your rhetoric is quite simply ignorant and judgmental. If you don't like the games, fine, but don't throw out false statements about the series, discourage interested people from at least trying it, and sling mud at the developers just because Trails isn't the kind of series that YOU wanted. Why even post here if the series wasn't what you were looking for? Just ignore it and move on. You're not helping anyone make an informed purchasing decision, you're just spreading false information and uninformed opinions. End of Story.
@TheWingedAvenger News flash buddy, that's what a lot of JRPGs are. Not every game has to be open world, or even have exploration at all. Just because this type of game isn't your thing doesn't mean it's not a video game or that other people don't enjoy it. The game is not "playing itself for you" or "lazy." It's quite simply not the kind of game that you personally enjoy. This series has a large and dedicated fanbase and the writing/characterization is frequently praised. It's lauded as one of the best examples of world building in the genre, with many explorable cities and tons of lore. Again, just because this type of JRPGs are not your thing does not make them bad or lazy games.
@TheWingedAvenger I don't know what the hell you're talking about, but it definitely isn't related to the Trails series. These are JRPGs with a deep combat system and many locations to explore. There is a lot of text and dialogue, but also a large amount of gameplay. Do some actual research before spreading false information. Google "Trails/Kiseki series" and you'll quickly discover that this is not the game you're thinking of. And once you do so, kindly delete your comment before people are turned away from the series as a result of your ignorance.
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Re: The Legend Of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV Announced For Nintendo Switch
@TheWingedAvenger Falcom is a very small company and does not have a comparable amount of resources as Nintendo, Square Enix, or Bethesda. That steep competition is precisely why an open world Trails game wouldn't sell well. The series is still obscure, Falcom doesn't have the funding for aggressive marketing or hyper realistic graphics, and so many other developers are releasing open world games in this day and age. However, I would argue that Falcom handles world building and characterization better than those companies. They do not have the time or money to create an open world or 'stunning' graphics, and would rather focus on other aspects of their games anyway (music, story, characters, world building, continuity across 9 games set on the same continent, etc). I may also point out that your judgement of the writing is based only by your experiences with some of the earlier games in the series. Tear of Vermilion suffered from an incredibly rushed translation job by Bandai Namco, so your complaint that "it seems like it was written by a college student on marijuana" is undoubtedly a result of the awful translation on their part. Tear of Vermilion is also largely unrepresentative of the series as of today, because it is not part of the Trails sub-series. As for Trails in the Sky FC, it has comparatively weak writing to the rest of the Trails series, I'll give you that. But the other EIGHT games in Trails which you have NOT PLAYED, are vastly improved in this aspect and many others. You're not exactly an authority on the writing quality of the Trails series when you're only taking into account the oldest game (released in 2004). Another main draw of the series is the continuity between each game, which is something you also can't comment on having only played one Trails game. Cold Steel IV is like the Avengers Endgame of JRPGs, with over 30 playable characters and insane plotlines built up over a decade of games finally coming to their conclusion. Falcom is not lazy. Every game developer isn't a Triple A juggernaut capable of just sneezing a massive world onto a game and lining their pockets with profit. Falcom is a very small company, and they had to choose what they wanted to prioritize in their games. They wanted to create a series of interconnected games with deep lore, world building, and memorable characters. Wasting time on a large (but barren) open world would only lead to an unfocused plot, meaningless space, and limited resources to do anything else in the game. And with so many other developers (with nearly endless pockets) making open world games, creating something refreshing and unique that only a small company like Falcom could do was the option they went with. You say that you agree every game doesn't need an open world, yet you say the absence of one in the Legend of Heroes series means the developers were lazy. You also act like there is no exploration at all. It's true that a lot of the world is comprised of narrow pathways, but towns are large and fully explore-able, caves and dungeons exist, etc. The game that you played (Trails in the Sky FC) is very linear in terms of progression, but again, you lack experience with the rest of the series. Quite a few of the future games give you more freedom as to where to travel and explore. Some even give you access to nearly the entire world halfway through. As for the writing, of course it's no classic literature, but it's a hell of a lot better than anything found in other video games. So again, as someone who only played an irrelevant, poorly translated Legend of Heroes game and the first/oldest Trails game, you really have no place in a comment section for the newest game in the series releasing over 15 years after the most recent game you played and 8 main series games later. It all comes down to personal taste. I don't take any issue with you personally not having an interest in The Legend of Heroes. However I do take issue with you ignorantly bashing an entire series based only on your experience with a dated game released over a decade and a half ago. What's next? Are you going to crucify Super Mario Bros because it didn't have the sandbox style of Odyssey? Start Zelda with The Adventure of Link and judge Breath of the Wild just by your experience with Zelda 2? You have no business here and your rhetoric is quite simply ignorant and judgmental. If you don't like the games, fine, but don't throw out false statements about the series, discourage interested people from at least trying it, and sling mud at the developers just because Trails isn't the kind of series that YOU wanted. Why even post here if the series wasn't what you were looking for? Just ignore it and move on. You're not helping anyone make an informed purchasing decision, you're just spreading false information and uninformed opinions. End of Story.
Re: The Legend Of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV Announced For Nintendo Switch
@TheWingedAvenger News flash buddy, that's what a lot of JRPGs are. Not every game has to be open world, or even have exploration at all. Just because this type of game isn't your thing doesn't mean it's not a video game or that other people don't enjoy it. The game is not "playing itself for you" or "lazy." It's quite simply not the kind of game that you personally enjoy. This series has a large and dedicated fanbase and the writing/characterization is frequently praised. It's lauded as one of the best examples of world building in the genre, with many explorable cities and tons of lore. Again, just because this type of JRPGs are not your thing does not make them bad or lazy games.
Re: The Legend Of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV Announced For Nintendo Switch
@TheWingedAvenger I don't know what the hell you're talking about, but it definitely isn't related to the Trails series. These are JRPGs with a deep combat system and many locations to explore. There is a lot of text and dialogue, but also a large amount of gameplay. Do some actual research before spreading false information. Google "Trails/Kiseki series" and you'll quickly discover that this is not the game you're thinking of. And once you do so, kindly delete your comment before people are turned away from the series as a result of your ignorance.